IT Service Provider for Your Data Network-Local to: Streamwood, IL

Are You Tired of Being Left in the Dark? You Deserve a True IT PARTNER!

Managed IT Services -Streamwood, IL 60107

It's not enough for your Office IT support to simply keep up with your organization. A true IT partner needs to constantly stay ahead of issues and your expanding needs with:

proactive monitoring,

top-line equipment, and

super-responsive, experienced remote and in-office tech staff.

But a GREAT IT partner can go the extra mile with:

A dedicated tech and account management team assigned to YOUR organization for your professional lifetime with us. While any member of our top-notch staff can service your account in a pinch, having an assigned support team—what we call an Andromeda C-CATSM—that is already familiar with your systems day-to-day and year-to-year means faster, more efficient fixes, upgrades, and service in general. This will ultimately save you a lot of money and frustrations by avoiding work done almost right (by someone not familiar with your system and detailed needs) that then requires "touch ups" and do-overs.

What Is An Andromeda C‑CAT?

A C‑CAT (Client-Centric Action Team) is a dedicated team that includes a Monitor Tech, Level 3 IT Tech, and Level 2 IT Tech whose activities are curated by an Account Coordinator(AC)—each specifically appointed to service your organization. With cat-like reflexes and precision, your Andromeda C-CAT will pounce on any IT issue, upgrade, or project. It's really the cat's meow for your IT needs!)

But just as importantly, you'll always know who to call by name and recognize the Andromeda tech who knocks at your door. After all, you wouldn't like to go to your doctor office and say "aaah" for a different person each time—no matter how professional and competent they are. We consider your server/data network to be just as personal (and critically important) to your organization.

NO Lock-In contracts! What's OUR position on long-term binding service contracts? Cancellation fees? We say, "Phooey!" You should WANT to stay with your IT service; not feel obligated to! We always provide flexible month-to-month cancellation options in our long-term contracts!

Proactive Communication: Never be in the dark again—whether it's status updates for a long-term project, one-time issue, tech arrival for a field visit, or even invoicing/billing details. It is our pledge to contact you with updates/information you need BEFORE any wonder or worry distracts you from your own work to the point of having to contact us about it.

As a premier Business IT Managed Services provider, Andromeda specializes in protecting and safeguarding your data. We will work
with you to make sure all your network gear meets your needs…

…and your budget!

In an MSP role, Andromeda offers a range of service plans—anything from month-to-month "time & materials" based assistance to fixed service contracts that permit "no-brainer" conformance to an annual budget.
We even offer V.I.P. plans which permit you to "jump the queue" for HelpDesk and remote technical support assignments! Beyond the functions you would expect from a full-service MSP:

...Andromeda can offer so much more: a single, expert source for a full range of
physical security systems which can (and should) freely interact with your data network:

Telephone systems—both hosted VoIP and traditional on-premises

Building/Door Access Control

Security Camera Systems and Video Surveillance

Burglar Alarm System Installation & Monitoring

So, not only can we provide professional service for the full gamut of physical security needs of your growing organization, we are uniquely positioned to integrate those systems with any elements of your data and voice network. It is this integration that extracts the full power and usefulness of these systems for your organization.

Because Andromeda Technology Solutions is a complete service company, we
provide support for every aspect of your computer system and IT network:

But our job doesn't stop there. Once your network is operational, we can continue
to support you with preventive maintenance packages, innovative approaches to
data backup, virus and Malware control, and anti-spam solutions.

Please contact us or fill out a
New Contact form on this page to have an Account Manager
contact you regarding the many ways we can assist you with your IT/computer networking needs.

Having a solid network infrastructure is critical to keeping your systems running
well and with minimal downtime. Truly, a $20 network switch from the retail store
down the street or the guy you know that "does some wiring on the side" is not
going to get you where you need to be. Neither are onsite-only or Cloud-only backup solutions!

Knowing that IT network wiring and
switches are the vital backbones of your operation, Andromeda employs only
experienced technicians and uses only business-class networking gear:

HP network switches • Cisco routers • Sonicwall & Netgear firewalls

There are many ways to connect remote workers and offices, and each has
advantages and disadvantages. We will work with you to understand your
exact needs and select the method that best suits those needs.

We specialize in extending your network beyond the four walls of your main
office. This might include remote or branch offices, mobile employees or remote
access from your house for voice, video, file sharing and much more!

Wireless Networks

Wireless IT networks are quite popular and are fast becoming indispensible. However,
they generally cannot achieve the same level of performance as traditional wired
networks where security, reliability, and bandwidth are of premium importance.
Still, a wireless network is a great solution for a few roaming laptops or tablet PCs
overlaying your wired office areas. To overcome the potential shortcomings of
wireless, we use HP and Cisco Wireless Access Points, and we can guide you through
the do’s and don’ts of implementing a wireless network to avoid the pitfalls.

Whether you are adding a few offices or doing an entire build-out from the ground
up, Andromeda Technology Solutions can help. We can provide infrastructure wiring
for your voice, data, TV, cameras, overhead paging, etc. Having one company to
handle all your wiring needs eliminates trying to coordinate vendors, minimizes labor
overlap, and decreases cost.

We are also available to assist in the design of your wiring. While architects generally
do a good job with this layout, we have a unique real-world approach that tends to
be more in line with what is actually needed for a working office. Involving us early
in the process will minimize the chance of having to run additional wires after your
construction is complete…when it's much more expensive to install!

"Commodity" web and email hosting seem like great solutions…until they go down
OR you need to add a new account OR remove an ex-employee's access OR countless
other items that need attention more regularly than you initially imagined. Ideally,
your IT service that performs these functions for you should also host your web and
email accounts to avoid delays, transfer issues, and any number of other potential
mishaps. Andromeda is pleased to offer comprehensive hosting plans to do just that.
Through our plans, you can also choose additional premium services like website hit
tracking and statistics reporting.

Andromeda is also pleased to provide web design services—anything from simple
informational sites to complete new site designs featuring animation/video, multi-tiered
navigation, database-backed forms and social media interaction. We also have proven
expertise in the art of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)—a "must" for any company that
needs to generate new business leads from its on-line presence!

AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on IT developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPediaSM library archive:

Sometimes it sounds like the news and cyber experts are on loop or a broken record. Every day there is a new report about cyber security, threats and the like. But while these stories and warnings may start to seem like white noise in the background, the threats are still here and they are very real.

The upside of all of this coverage and conversation is that business owners are wising up and with the topic of cyber security taking center stage, users and business owners alike are being more proactive when it comes to protecting and educating themselves.

In the spirit of education we’d like to dive a little deeper into 5 features/protocols you can set up at your office to beef up your IT Security.

Top 5 Cyber Security Features/Protocols

Multi Factor Authentication

This feature is nothing new but it is becoming more and more common across all kinds of accounts. Financial services, email, social media and other applications/accounts are making use of multi or dual factor authentication. Essentially you have a password and second form of identification to prove your identity. Sometimes this is a randomly generated code – think Facebook’s code generator.

Another type of multi or dual factor authentication uses biometric data for identity verification. Things like a fingerprint or a retina scan are examples of this type of security measure. In fact, last month we took a look at biometrics, integrated security and banking applications – read more about that here.

An Employee Training Program

Statistically over 80% of all breaches and intrusions occur after an employee error. Clicking a link in an email, downloading a malicious file, visiting an infected website . . . there are so many ways this can happen and most of the time it isn’t intentional either. The best way to prevent this from happening is an ongoing security program for yourself and employees. A good program will have a varied focus: compliance standards for personal and customer info (commonly known as pii or personally identifiable information), strategies for recognizing and avoiding email scams, proper security protocols for best practices at the office and more. In 2017 Andromeda recognized this need and released our PII Protection/Cyber Security Training Program. See full details here.

Business Grade Firewall

A good firewall is your first defense against intrusion. With proper intrusion detection and intrusion prevention settings you arm yourself against cyber criminals and hackers. On top of that, a business grade firewall solution is an important piece of hardware when you want to set up public and private networks. You definitely don’t want guests at your building or passersby accessing company documents or networks because of low cyber security protocols.

Regularly Scheduled Updates/Patching

New viruses and threats hit the market every day. On top of that, hackers and criminals discover new vulnerabilities almost as fast as developers can protect against them. This is why keeping up to date and on top of patching and updates is so important. For instance, the WannaCry virus everyone heard so much about this year took advantage of a vulnerability that had already been addressed by a Windows patch. If companies had proactively updated and maintained their updates/patches, they wouldn’t have been as vulnerable to an attack.

Spam Filters

This ties into both firewall protocols and employee training but of course, the fewer random emails that make it into your employee inboxes, the fewer links and files you need to worry about employee’s (or even yourself) clicking on. A professional spam tool can be configured to your liking and can do a whole lot to prevent content from making it to those that might accidentally infect your network. See the photos below for a few examples of emails we protect customers from on a daily basis.

As always, Andromeda is here to help you protect yourself and your business from these ongoing threats. Take the first step today and sign up for a cyber security audit with our team of experts.

www.WeNetwork.com/CyberAudit

The post 5 Cyber Security Features/Protocols Your Business Needs To Protect Against Scammers, Hackers & Cyber Criminals appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Network Security Assessment – The Single Most Important Cyber Security Tool You Are Neglecting Every YearMay 01, 2017

Why you should have a network security assessment at least once per year

Let’s face it – our digital world is under constant attack and your corporate network is one of the biggest targets out there. Why? Because it also tends to be an easy mark. Year after year we see large scale attacks against corporations, but did you know that the majority of cyber incidents occur against small business? Ask yourself, when was the last time you had a professional network security assessment? We’d like to share why assessments are an important piece of the multi-layered approach to cyber security for your business.

Let’s start by stating something that you might not expect a tech company to express. At some point, your network and computer systems WILL BE breached by some type of cyber attack. No amount of effort or software can protect you 100%. The key is to take as many steps as you can to make it less likely you will be hacked or more realistically, take as many steps to ensure that a breach can do no real or sustainable harm to your business. No approach on the market can guarantee you will never be breached and if you run into an IT firm or product that tries to make this guarantee . . . run for the hills because it just “ain’t” true.

Now, there are the obvious steps that you can take to protect yourself and make it harder on the criminals:

good Email habits

anti-malware software

firewalls

employee training

a professional Disaster Recover (DR) plan/device

However, there is another tool in the arsenal that you should use regularly and that is an annual (at minimum) Network Security Assessment.

How Is A Network Security Assessment Done?

Your IT support company can do an assessment; they should then give you a risk report displaying areas that need to be tightened up. If your IT company does not perform these, it may be time to start looking into someone new. Cyber threats are more prevalent every day and it is important to partner with an IT company that recognizes this and protects your business accordingly.

We find that our assessment usually uncovers security threats and holes; even when a business has the right practices and has done their research. Cyber security is a daily battle. When we run our assessment we use the results to constantly improve the defenses of our clients. And that is why, like most things in tech, an assessment should be a regular event.

The Network Security Assessment Is Done. What’s Next?

The network security assessment itself is not the only thing to request though. It is equally important to make sure that your firm supplies you with a report of their findings. This report should be simple to understand, contain an overall score and give you a breakdown of each issue found, along with how serious those specific issues are. Ask for an action plan detailing fixes for any issues that are found. Why go through the assessment if you aren’t going to DO anything with the data?

How important and helpful are these reports? We are an IT company with a background protecting our partners from risk, we place protections in place for our partners and still find ways to improve our customer cyber safety every time we run an assessment.

Why? Because cyber security is a dynamic, ever changing landscape and you need to proactively search for issues. Don’t let yourself learn the hard way. You never want to discover there is a hole in your cyber security by way of an attack or breach.

Interested in a Network Security Assessment?

If this article has you questioning your current setup, or if you are simply interested in starting a conversation regarding the cyber security protections necessary for your business, a network security assessment with Andromeda is a great place to start. With this in mind, we will be discounting our network security assessment thru 05/31/17. Fill out the form below for access to our promotional rate and begin a discussion with one of our security experts.

Fill out the form below to receive a $500 discount on a Network Security Assessment valid for the month of May

The post Network Security Assessment – The Single Most Important Cyber Security Tool You Are Neglecting Every Year appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Microsoft is getting tough on so-called "registry cleaners", and it's about time.� The company recently announced a planned change to Windows Defender (the anti-malware program that comes standard with every Windows installation).� The change will see to the deletion of an increasing number of these registry cleaners.� It's a great move, and the company deserves credit for it, but there's a catch.� This type of software has been around for decades. So the move, as welcome as it is, comes very late in the game.

It's overwhelmingly likely that you've seen these programs in action.� They're usually free downloads (though there are a few web based services too) that scan your system to find problems with your registry that the software claims are causing performance issues and slowing your machine down.

There are two major problems with this:� First, the software tends to be light on details, refusing to provide much information about exactly why the "problems" that have been identified are impacting system performance.� Worse, the software often incorrectly identifies critical system files and registry entries as being problematic. So of course, when they are deleted, they actually create many more problems than they solve.

Second, in order to actually fix the problems that have been identified, you've got to buy the premium version of the package.� The result is that you're losing money, and the software often breaks your system.� Not a pretty picture.

This latest move by Microsoft builds on action they took back in 2016, when the company started penalizing the makers of such registry cleaners if their software didn't provide adequate information. This missing information included why the problems they found needed to be fixed in the first place, and if they utilized a high pressure up-sell technique.

Ultimately, those moves proved to be insufficient, so Microsoft decided to take things to the next level.� Now, they're simply going to start deleting these no- or low-value programs.� Late or not, that's one less headache for you, and a very good thing.

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Executive Summary

We have extensive experience in all aspects of networking:

Managed IT Services Support in Chicagoland

Computer LANs

Computer WANs

Computer VPNs

Computer Network Switches

Data Backup/Business Continuity

Data Network and Voice Wiring

Wireless Networks

Remote Access

Multiple Locations

VoIP

Web/Email Hosting

We can implement and maintain every part of your business network.

If you need:

Managed IT Services Support in Streamwood, IL (60107)

Data Network Setups & Cloud Services in Chicagoland

Computer Networking in Streamwood, IL 60107

IT Tech Support in Streamwood, IL (60107)

Install Servers, Firewalls, Data Security in Streamwood, IL 60107

Internet Network Setup in Chicagoland

Firewall Network Security in Illinois

Remote Office data networks in Streamwood, IL (60107)

...this is where you
need to be!

Our Mission

To provide our customers with exceptional service.

To be a full service organization specializing in the technology needs of businesses.

To provide both equipment and service, so our customers need only make one call to get their job done.